Group photo
2 of the 4 classes from our 2015 Summer Course with their teachers

Our summer course has been successfully completed. A total of 45 students participated in the one month special English training. This year’s summer course ran from the 20th April until the 19th May.

We are proud to have seen all of our students make solid progress with their English. These skills will help them in studying our own advanced Course or will provide them with the ability  to access further education elsewhere. This year’s course saw students overcome the challenge of the fire in the Camp to continue their education.

During the course, students were taught in classes of 12 giving them a lot of opportunity to learn directly from their teachers. The lessons rotated from speaking and listening focused to reading and writing focused.  We separated the groups into A—D based on their English ability. This gave all of the students ample opportunity to fine tune their English skills.

Our special English course is only in its third year, now. The reason we run our SDC summer course is to help our students English in order to progress to a suitable level so that they are successful on the SDC Advanced Course. If students are successful in completing the summer course, they will have a high enough English level to participate in our Advanced Course. It will lead to a better understanding of our subjects and ultimately better activists for our society in the future. With these goals in mind, we focused the course around our students’ language needs.

The summer course worked through a series of topics focused on the students’ communities. We looked at problems in the refugee community as well as in Karenni State. We then considered the causes of these problems. After which, we looked at possible solutions. These steps were concluded by creating some aspirations for the future and making a needs assessment of how to build towards that future.

The course also included preparation for the SDC Advanced Community Management Training Course entrance exam and interview. The lessons we provided included mock interviews and CV writing. These skills will provide all of the students with the necessary ability to successfully apply for positions within their communities.

Interview photo 1
A student practices interviewing

After the summer course, 20 of the students have continued to participate in our SDC Advanced Course. For the rest of the students, they will now go to look for jobs in their community and become activists for our Karenni people. We are now wishing all of our students the best for their futures. May all of their aspirations be fulfilled.